Perennials: If daffodils did not do well, they may need dividing or more sun. Complete fertilizing all spring-blooming bulbs. Continue pinching chrysanthemums. Take a few cuttings of vigorous mums to root in potting soil or vermiculite. Keep up with weeding to preserve precious moisture. Mulch beds lightly with sweet peat, buckwheat hulls or other light material.

Flowers: Keep pansies until they wilt in the heat, then replace with summer annuals such as heliotrope or nicotiana, which are long blooming, colorful and fragrant. Fertilize annuals every two weeks. Plant seeds of fast-growing annuals like zinnias and cosmos directly in the garden. Complete planting of dahlias, cannas and gladiolas.

Vegetables and fruits: Keep up with weeding. Thin row crops. Put up supports for tall pea vines. Borage is recommended as a repellent for squash beetle. Try seeding this beautiful blue herb among the plants. Be forewarned that it sends volunteers all over the garden. However, the best defense against the squash beetle are “floating” row covers, a white mesh material that lets in the sun and rain. They must be removed while the plant flowers to permit pollination.

Trees and shrubs: Remove turf in a circle around trees to prevent damage from the “weed eater.” Monitor for lacebug on pieris and black vine weevil on rhododendron. Consult Cornell Cooperative Extension for treatments. Deadhead lilacs and rhododendrons. Prune spring-flowering shrubs.

Lawns: Consider a meadow as an alternative to a large lawn or a frequently mowed field. Meadows require much less time and resources in the way of water, fertilizers and fuel used for mowing. Meadows allow more infiltration of storm water, are more biologically diverse and provide aesthetic enjoyment of flowers and the birds and butterflies attracted to them. There are different types of meadows requiring different methods of management: a high cut “greensward” requiring about 5 mowings a season; a hay meadow that’s cut twice a year, offering the aesthetics of grasses but won’t support nesting birds or wildflowers; and a natural meadow that’s mowed once a year to encourage the seeding of native grasses and wildflowers. (The source of this information is the Mianus River Gorge Preserve in Bedford, which is seeking to protect the watershed by helping neighbors to reduce lawns and their treatment.)

General: Be vigilant about pulling out and destroying wild mustard. This is a biennial very invasive weed with bright green leaves and small white blossoms at the top. It is overrunning the forests with damaging results. The other invasive, purple loosestrife, will appear later in the summer and should also be eradicated.
Susan Henry